Well, this is a rather different article – not so much a film but a Radio Drama with a full BBC Cast headed by William Franklyn as Sexton Blake.

During the ‘lock down’ that we have all been dealing with, I walked around our village and as the church was closed, we went into the Church porch where villagers had left items of interest to exchange. Quite a few books and jig-saw puzzles which seemed very popular but also some DVDs and among them was this jewel – a CD of Sexton Blake titled ‘The Vampire Moon’ and other stories which starred William Franklyn as the famous detective.

After ‘The Vampire Moon’ episode we had ‘The Fifth Dimension’ ‘First Class Ticket to Nowhere’ and ‘Murder on the Portsmouth Road’ – all of them quite good – with my own favourite being ‘First Class Ticket to Nowhere’ . This was the story of a drug ring which used dis-used Railway Stations as bases for their distribution. Needless to say Sexton Blake got to grips with it.

Sexton Blake had his assistant Tinker played by David Gregory and Heather Chasen as his Secretary.

Apparently these were ‘lost’ BBC Radio episodes that had been rediscovered and put out on CD in the ‘BBC Radio Full-Cast Dramatisation’ format which they have done with so many plays – and I am a huge fan of them and have a lot to listen to – mainly while driving in the car

The ones featured here are just others to add to the collection – and welcome ones at that

William Franklyn had a long acting career in films and television – and it seems on Radio too – perhaps he is best known for voicing the “Schhh… You Know Who” advertisements on TV for Schweppes from 1965 to 1973 – at the time he was doing Sexton Blake

Heather Chasen had an even longer career in Films and TV from 1914 until 2014. Actually she died in May this year 2020

David Gregory was born in London in 1935 and has had a career in films and TV also – although he seems to have packed it in a few years ago – maybe he has retired.

In the first episode ‘The Vampire Moon’ we had the appearance of Marjorie Westbury a very well known Radio Drama actress who for 20 or 30 years played Paul Temples wife Steve on Radio.

Again on Radio she appeared in ‘Waters of the Moon’ a famous play – and one I like